Steering jumps/pops/binds/clunks turning right at low speed nearly full lock. W201

[Chowbow]

Hey everyone,

Wondering if anyone has come across this one... I searched and really didn't find any pertinent information. Apologies for the many adjectives listed above, but I figure it may be useful for search later.

Car is a 1992 190E 2.6 with 130k miles. Recently replaced front end components: Both tie rod assemblies, ball joints, steering damper, springs, spring pads, shocks, strut mounts, and new power steering fluid.

Symptom: This is best replicated when I am slowly turning into a parking spot, or backing out of a parking spot. When I turn the wheel close to full lock towards the right, there's a pretty strong judder coming through the steering wheel and it feels like I just drove over a baseball sized rock with the wheels turned. It is audible and the whole front end of the car seems to jump a little bit. It feels like this clunking / binding / popping is coming from the driver's side area. It only occurs while turning the wheel to the right, and only at low speeds, always when I turn the wheel to a specific spot - about when the "12 o clock" position gets to the 8 o clock position (approximately 240 degrees). When the roads are wet from rain, the symptoms are worse. This does NOT occur when the car is sitting still. May be related as well, the steering does not "return to center" easily from full lock.

The car drives and steers fine otherwise. The LCA bushings are kinda worn and will be replaced soon, but I'm not sure if that will cause these symptoms. The car tracks straight in town and on the freeway and has no other clunks and strange noises otherwise.

I read that sometimes a bad tie rod can cause a popping sound and may not otherwise show symptoms of being bad (no play when rocking wheel side to side in the air), so I replaced the driver's side one a few days ago even though I had replaced both tie rods about 10k miles ago. That did not help either unforutnately. I had the car aligned as well and no difference.

I suspected the steering box as I read that a steering box which has had it's adjustment set "too tight" will cause binding and return to center issues. There is not much play in my steering wheel and the steering box had never been adjusted. Regardless, I loosened the steering box about 1/2 a turn, and I don't think it made much of a difference. Maybe a tiny bit, but could just be placebo effect. Should I loosen it more?

I'm nearly at wits end... As the symptoms do not show up when the car is still, having the car in the air or on ramps and turning the wheel doesn't really show anything, and I certainly can't drag anyone under the car to look (volunteers?!) while I do this. Would love to see if anyone has ideas. My gut tells me the steering box is the culprit, but I'd hate to just throw money at the car.

Help, please! TIA.

[latief]

Probably ball joints? how are the boots/ condition of those?

[Chowbow]

Oh sorry, should have mentioned new ball joints too, will edit my post. Those are really recent, 1k miles or so, if that.